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Congress seeks federal study of chronic wasting disease

A congressman whose district includes a region that is at the center of a controversial plan to drastically reduce the deer population in the fight over chronic wasting disease is joining in support of a bill that asks federal agencies to study the growing disease.

Rep. John Joyce, R-13, announced late Tuesday that he will join as a cosponsor of the "Chronic Wasting Disease Transmission in Cervidae Study Act," which instructs the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to partner with the National Academies of Science to study and identify the ways CWD is transmitted between wild, captive and farmed cervids.

The game commission said Wednesday that deer research continues in the area. They said to date, more than 100 deer have been captured and many have been equipped with GPS units that record detailed movements.